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24.05.2010

Rugby sevens: England miss out at London Sevens

England sevens’ dreams of repeating their 2009 success and winning their home round of the IRB World Series Sevens at Twickenham ahead of the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games were blown away on Sunday (23 May) when they lost 17-12 to South Africa in the Cup quarter-finals.

They then missed out on the chance to take the Plate, going down narrowly 22-19 to New Zealand in the Plate semi-finals.

England sevens skipper Ben Gollings said: “We never got out of the blocks against South Africa which was disappointing as it was a game that was very winnable for us.

“The New Zealand game was a chance to put things right but you can’t fault the effort from the boys to pick themselves up and we were, maybe, a couple of inches away from winning that game.”

Coach Ben Ryan admitted afterwards: “It was disappointing, I thought the first two games yesterday (Saturday) were excellent and that despite the defeat by Australia we would bounce back well.”

England finished second in their pool, their only defeat being at the hands of Australia, who went on to win the London Sevens by beating South Africa 19-14 in the final.

It was Australia’s first World Series win in eight years.

The IRB World Series Sevens action now moves to Edinburgh next weekend (29-30 May) where England are again drawn in a pool with Australia, as well as Canada and Portugal.

The England sevens team took silver at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games, with gold going to New Zealand.

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